Saturday, March 24, 2012

After hearing so much love for Tanz der Vampire and the production in Seinäjoki, I had to go to see it.

And
it wasn't exactly like I thought it would be. Do not get me wrong, it
was awesome. But there were some thing that didn't amaze me like I
hoped. Because it was the second-to-last show, the audience was simply
screaming, applauding everything. Yes, never seen an audience like that!
And it made the show even better.

To
say the something about the plot: the story is based by Roman
Polanski's film. The first time the musical was staged in Wien on 1997.
The Finnish production was the first to be non-replica. The story is
about Professor Abronsius and his assistant who are hunting vampires in
Transylvania. They meet Sarah and her parents, Chagal and Rebecca, and the assistant, Alfred,
falls in love with Sarah. Alfred is not the only one who loves Sarah.
Alfred's rival is a vampire, Count von Krolock. The story also features
many vampires, count's homosexual son Herbert, Chagal's lover Magda and
count's servant Koukol.

My
seat was on the eighth row and the seat was very good. I saw
everything. The set was beautiful. Some videos were used to help
changing the scene. And they worked pretty well, even though I didn't
like them when the show started. The score was beautiful and the
translation. Oh god, the translation was so great! I think I have never
heard better translation for a musical. Thank you for a great job Marika
Hakola!

To
talk about the cast: it was great. I got to know after the show that I
had an understudy as Koukol. The role is usually played by Antti Railio
but my Koukol was Mikko Kesäniemi. Otherwise everyone was there.

And
there is one word to describe the cast: wow. Jyri Lahtinen did amazing
job as Count von Krolock. His voice was just phenomenal. It blew my mind
away. I have previously seen Raili Raitala in the ensemble of Wicked in
Helsinki city theatre. But well, she didn't blow my mind away like
Lahtinen did. She has good voice, but I didn't find her so special.Ville
Salonen was adorable as Alfred. He has a very good voice and his acting
was great. He made my like his character so much. Esa Ahonen (Professor
Abronsius) was one of my favorites. He was funny. Ahonen really had
something deep in his character. And well, just couldn't help but love
how he said ”NYHVERÖ. Nyhverönyhverönyhverö!” (hard to translate but
almost same thing as coward).I
had heard many good things about Jouko Enkelnotko's version of Herbert.
Oh yes, he was great. Someone may have thought that Herbert would be
cute boy, but Enkelnotko isn't like a pretty boy. His Herbert was
elegant and funny. I really liked the way he did the role. Heikki
Vainionpää and Leena Rousti did also well as Chagal and his wife
Rebecca. They weren't as good as Salonen, Ahonen and Enkelnotko were but
I liked both of them. The ensemble was great. And the dancers – they
were amazing! I really liked them.

And
just because I need to fangirl about this. During the last scene Alfred
and Sarah who have turned into vampires come to the audience. And they
”bite” some people in the audience. Even though my seat was fifth from
the corner, Alfred came to bite me. YES. I have been bitten by a vampire
today.

The
sad thing is that the production closed today. Why on earth, may I ask?
I know that people would have gone to see it many times! But well, we
can't do anything. The production is closed. I'm sure that everyone at
the theatre had an amazing day today. I did too.I hope to see this musical again in Finland someday. It really deserves to be performed again.

These are so wonderful news! Sören Lillkung played Javert in Åbo Svenska Teater's Les Misérables. Samuel Harjanne did the role of Enjolras on the last four weeks in the sma eproduction and Mikaela Tidermark was Cosette from fall 2011.

I'm more than excited! Planning to go to see the premiere and the last show. Maybe something between them too!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I thought it would be time to tell a little about my history with musicals.My
story begins at the end of 2006. I was watching AMVs (Anime Music
Videos) on YouTube when there was a video with a song that stucked in my
head. I just played it on repeat for goodness knows how many times.Nowadays I can’t stand the version of that song. It was from The Phantom of the Opera (2004). And it was the title song.Well I continued my Phantom-obsession. I read the original book by Gaston Leroux. And then I got to see the movie.I
loved it back then. It’s visually beautiful movie. And the score. I
still love Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music. But the singers aren’t that
great.It
was the start of the great obsession. I continued with The Phantom of
the Opera. I got to listen the Original London cast Recording, but back
then I didn’t like it. Nowadays I love it. Michael Crawford makes
awesome Phantom. The Phantom of the Opera was my first musical. And it’s
still my favorite musical.In July 2010 I travelled to London. To West End. For the first time. I saw only one show but it changed everything.Guess
twice which musical I saw. Yes, it was The Phantom. And that night was
perfect. I’ve been a huge fan of Gina Beck since that day. She was
Christine on that night. Other wise the show just blew my mind.In
the summer 2010 I heard that Wicked would be in Finland in autumn. I
wasn’t that interested. But when I heard that many people had liked it, I
decided to go to watch it. In January 2011 I saw it in Helsinki
citytheatre. Maybe I will write someday about the change that Wicked
made in me. Well, it was great to see that musical again in May.In
autumn 2011 I saw couple of musicals. Next to Normal, Les Misérables,
The Sound of Music, Striking 12, the 25th Anniversary of The Phantom of
the Opera... Since September 2011 I’ve seen at least one musical per
month. Some of them have made me think of myself and what I want to be.
One of them made an awesome adventure in my life.Next
time I’ll go to see Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires) in
Seinäjoki. Then it’s time for Kristina från Duvemåla. And then? Some great musicals in autumn (like Jesus Christ Superstar, Next to Normal in Vaasa, HAIR, Aladdin and RENT).